Tulpenrallye 2023

The story of 2023: For almost all competitors the 69th Tulpenrallye began with a special Prologue. On the military training ground “De Vlasakkers” near Amersfoort the organisers had laid out a rally test of almost 15 km. From the 1960s until the early 1990s tests in the Tulpenrallye were run on this very ground; a speed rally in those days! With this the Tulpenrallye returned to historic soil. Alongside the competitors in the 69th edition of the Tulpenrallye, members of the Royal Dutch Automobile Club, the DHRC and the AMAC were also invited to take part in the Prologue, so as to become better acquainted with classic rallying. The reception for the Prologue of this Tulpenrallye was organised at Pon Porsche in Leusden. The 69th Tulpenrallye started on Sunday 7 May 2023 in Vichy, France. This year 157 crews came to the start. That number was lower than in the years before Covid. The organisers were concerned about the downward trend in the number of competitors and took a number of measures aimed at attracting new competitors. That was why guests were invited to the Prologue, and why a video report of the Tulpenrallye was made once again this year and broadcast later in the year by RTL 7. Stichting DON was the charity supported and Gijs van Lennep was the ambassador. Almost all crews drove the “Tour de Vichy” on the Sunday, a run laid out by the organisers to get used to the road book and the route controls. The weather during this tour was exceptionally poor and it rained hard. That evening all competitors were received in the magnificent Palais des Congres in the Parc des Sources in Vichy for the first dinner. During the dinner Renger Guliker was honoured for his 40th (and last) participation in the Tulpenrallye. After the successful introduction of the Rallycheck App in 2022, the digitalisation was extended a little further in 2023, without compromising the historic character of the event. To make more data available digitally and more quickly, a number of Tulpenrallye scanners were deployed with which competitors could record their time of passage by means of a QR code on their badge. All competitors in the Touring class also ran a tracker in the car, allowing the organisers to check their speed at various points fixed in advance along the rally. Speed (and noise) remained important challenges when applying for and obtaining the necessary exemptions, and by taking these measures the organisers expected these to be granted more easily and more quickly. In cooperation with sponsor YveY the lunches were organised differently this year. They were prepared and served each day from a large food truck. This made the organisers less dependent on finding a suitable catering venue when laying out the route. The rally started on the Monday morning. After a loop on the first day out of and back to Vichy, the route ran by way of the finish towns of Beaune, Troyes, Nancy, Luxembourg and Valkenburg. On the Monday the navigation did not seem complex at first, but the pace was high. The first circuit visited was Charade, where the French F1 Grand Prix was once run. It was 3,900 metres long and had substantial changes in elevation. Hank Melse/Wouter Bakker were the only crew in the rally to pick up no penalty points on the Monday. Wednesday was the hardest day of the week for the Expert class. As well as the ordinary rally during the day, they also drove the evening stage. In recent years that evening stage had often been marked by angry farmers, residents and police. This year everything was different. The route setters had laid out the route in a very quiet area and all competitors ran a tracker in the car, allowing the organisers to hold speed checks at various points. Plenty of people waving at the roadside. Superbly organised! On the Thursday morning the route led through the Champagne. The route along a short stretch of motorway was the shortest, but many crews overlooked it. An error in the road book caused unnecessary detours and lost time on the Friday afternoon. Part of the time and of the route were neutralised that evening. On the Saturday morning Albert Boekel / Remco Luksemburg looked to be heading for victory in the Expert class. At the very last moment, however, they were beaten by Harm Lamberigts / Bart den Hartog, who thus became the winners of the “Coupe Rallye des Tulipes” in the Expert class of the 2023 Tulpenrallye. Den Hartog thereby became by some distance the most successful competitor in the Tulpenrallye, with 7 wins as navigator of the Coupe Rallye des Tulips. In the Sport class Gerrit Teerink/Bert Smeitink took first place. In Touring, Arnold Hoogenhout/Muriël Tigchelaar won. The Veterans class was won by Bau Winkel/Simon Suesan Sr.